Hard Times Charles Dickens Essays

Hard Times Charles Dickens Essays Hard Times Charles Dickens Essay Hard Times Charles Dickens Essay Essay Topic: Literature Charles Dickens, a phenomenal author was born into earth with riches. All of these riches were taken away from him when some hard times happened in his life his inspired him to write this book. Dickens Father was in prison for most of his life and Dickens and his sister were the only ones who didnt belong in a cell. They were left on their own and left to work. Born in 1812 and dying in 1870, Dickens lived a good and fulfilling life. He married what he thought was an amazing woman and later went on to have many children with her. Dickens and his wife later split up after his secret and dark affair that was kept from his wife for many years. His fame grew and became more famous over time. This is one of Dickens most famous novels ever written; it was made from memories of the Industrial Revolution, Dickens views on the education back when he was a child and the very poor working conditions in factories. The novel is set in a rough town, which Dickens in the novel called, coke-town; now known as Preston Today. He visited Preston again during writing his novel to get the feel of Coke-town again. : Though in Hard Times the children are the replacement for the thieves and the oil are the facts that they are being taught, being relentlessly forced and poured into them up to the brim. Imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim looking into all the vessels before him, one after another, to see what they contained Dickens uses this allusion to show that the school was like a jail where you were forced to learn all these facts until you were fill to the brim. The children are been filled with facts in order to drive out any imagination they have left. Dickens also tells us of the consequences that the children may face if they continue with this teaching regime. To conclude, in the opening chapters of Hard Times Charles dickens has satirised the education system by creating an exaggerated allusion of the way of teaching, almost to a point of ridicule but at the same time exposing the truth behind the education. This leads us, the readers, to believe that the system is wrong and inhumane to children. This is because they are suppressing the Childs imagination, a thing of great importance and opportunity. However Hard Times was written to humour the Victorians, but Dickens still manages to express his opinion and change the readers opinion, to feel the education system is doing unjust to the children in lacking major parts of a Childs mental development and not letting them reach there full prudential.

A Writing-Competence Matrix

A Writing-Competence Matrix A Writing-Competence Matrix A Writing-Competence Matrix By Mark Nichol The effectiveness of any nonfiction manuscript is contingent on at least three factors: the writer’s level of expertise in the subject matter, their reportorial aptitude, and their writing ability. (By extension, the performance of other potential contributors a developmental editor, a copy editor, a proofreader in the execution of their responsibilities is also significant. Consider references to â€Å"the writer† here to mean the editorial â€Å"committee† that participates in the development of a given formally produced writing project.) Subject-Matter Expertise The writer’s level of expertise may be at one of three levels: expert, learner, or amateur. The subject-matter expert may or may not have professional or scholarly credentials. However, the writer is assumed to be knowledgeable about the writing project’s topic to the extent that no further corroborative research (fact-checking) is necessary. The expert may benefit from some guidance from a developmental editor regarding the need to acquire additional data, but they are virtually self-sufficient when it comes to collecting and utilizing background material. An example of an expertly researched project is a work of scholarly writing produced by a university professor that pertains to their area of expertise. The subject-matter learner is a generalist who has a well-developed facility for acquiring the background knowledge and an aptitude for understanding the topic to the extent that they can write about it authoritatively, although a moderate amount of fact-checking may be necessary. A developmental editor may need to consult with the learner about additional or more effective research methods and the extent to which sources are utilized, but the learner has a good grasp of the necessity of thorough research and documentation. An example of a learner’s writing is a magazine article written about a new technological breakthrough by a lay writer who covers such subject matter. A subject-matter amateur, however, also a generalist, may lack the skill to develop a sufficient understanding of the topic and may therefore produce an inadequate manuscript, and the writing project may require extensive revision based on additional research, if such a step is taken at all. The amateur may need to be reminded about backing up the manuscript with corroborating research, and may require extensive guidance as to how to acquire the necessary data. An example of this level of writing is a newspaper article about the controversy surrounding a complicated legal issue by a reporter with no background in legislation or public policy. Reportorial Aptitude The same three levels of competence apply in terms of reporting skills. An expert reporter understands the scope of the manuscript assignment and how to obtain information from sources, whether people or documents. They also have the expertise and training to successfully draw valuable material from interview subjects and other sources of information. The expert usually requires little or no guidance from a developmental editor in organizing their approach to obtaining direct information. A learner reporter may need some guidance in strategizing how to determine who to interview, and how, but has an aptitude for comprehending how to gather data, insights, and comments, and will be able to competently carry on a conversation with people in possession of the information they need. An amateur reporter may be largely ignorant of the significance of the topic and may be at a loss as to where to begin and where to progress from that beginning once it is discovered, and may not have a knack for preparing for interviews and, worse, for digressing from stock questions to follow interesting new tangents. A developmental editor may need to provide extensive advice about obtaining firsthand information. Writing Ability A writer’s skill in composition can also be judged on these three levels. An expert writer is able to seamlessly integrate background research with information collected in the course of consulting with interview subjects and, just as important, has the aptitude for crafting a deftly organized and eloquently and elegantly written manuscript with a consistent tone, an authoritative voice, and an effective argument or presentation. The expert will likely need a minimum of assistance in developing a manuscript. The learner writer, although they have not necessarily mastered the craft of writing, recognizes the fundamentals of assembling a manuscript from raw materials and, possessing some talent in ordering their thoughts and expressing them effectively, should need no more than a moderate amount of developmental aid. The amateur writer often requires extensive coaching in the art of writing. The amateur may lack a command of the basic rules of grammar and syntax, and is likely to have only a modest vocabulary and an insufficient amount of creativity to craft effective prose, failing to understand how active sentence construction, concise description, and vivid word choices enhance a composition. Conclusion Before a book proposal is accepted or a book manuscript is commissioned, or an article is assigned, one of the tasks of an editor charged with coordinating the publication is to, at least informally, determine where on the matrix of subject-matter expertise, reportorial aptitude, and writing ability an author’s level of competence lies. (Think of a scorecard with a three-by-three grid, like a tic-tac-toe box, as an evaluative tool.) The degree of competence may differ in each of the categories, but the author’s comprehensive skill level will generally rest in one of the three degrees (expert, learner, or amateur). Diagnosing the author’s competence in the three components of comprehensive authorial talent will help an editor predict how much developmental and line editing and fact-checking a given manuscript will require and how viable the project is, or whether it is viable at all. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? 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